Computer scientists, often maligned as geeks, have emerged as the top-earning university graduates.

According to the Sunday Times league table of graduate salaries, computer studies courses make up five of the top 10 highest-earning degrees, alongside economics, engineering and business studies. Highest paid of all are computer scientists from Oxford who enjoy a £45,000 median salary six months after graduation. Many were recruited by banks or technology companies such as Google and Amazon.

Tomas Janerle, 24, is among them. He read maths and computer science at Oxford and said it was “super-easy” to find a well-paid job, in his case with Facebook. Computer studies graduates at social media companies can start on £60,000 a year, he said.

Our tables, published today, show that the subject…

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